It’s only a proof copy with a shiny cover and different paper stock from the edition that will be published, but the task of finalising the  cover layout sure feels good.   

I’m loving all the debates kicking around the Human Legion website right now. It’s really exciting to see. However, you won’t see me contribute until the start of next week, or reply to emailed Recon Team reports, because I have my own recon mission to perform. Together with a select group of like-minded colleagues, I shall be entering the town of Burton-on-Trent on a three-day mission to assess whether they still know how to brew and serve a decent pint of beer. Here’s a potted history of Burton, if you’re unfamiliar with this great international centre of culture http://beer-trotter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/on-trail-of-pale-ale-in-burton-on-trent.html Alternatively, here’s a picture. I’m sure you get the idea.

Hi, As part of the reports feeding back from the Recon Team, I’m making a few tweaks to Renegade Legion to remind readers of how the battlesuit AIs work, and about how hairy the Hardits are (very!). I’m putting in some brief (2-page) Infopedia entries at the start of new Parts of the book, which I’m posting here for you to enjoy, comment on, or ignore at your pleasure 🙂 —— Human Legion INFOPEDIA ——  Equipment – ACE Battlesuit AIs At the heart of the Armored Combat Exosuit (ACE) series of battlesuits is the plate holding the suit’s artificial intelligence. Indeed, the AI is literally at the suit’s heart, spending most of its existence submerged beneath a heavily armored band […]

Recon Team, Ranks, Cast, and Changes Lists of ranks were the kind of thing I was planning to put into the Classified Military Info /Infopedia section of the website, but I’ve decided to write some up and here they are in this post, together with a revised Table of Organization & Equipment for the start of the book (which amounts to a cast of characters – well, most of them — and now includes nicknames). This is as a result of feedback from the Recon Team, which is why you’re so helpful in making this book as good as it can be. I’ll list the changes, so that if you’re in the Recon Team, and haven’t yet read the book, […]

I’ve been invited as a special guest to a small science fiction and fantasy convention in Northampton, England on July 11th. Not exactly sure what format this will take, but no doubt I’ll get miked up at some point and start jabbering away about railguns, and how to fight interstellar wars at sub-lightspeed, and the effect on those involved. If anyone happens to be in the vicinity of Northampton, the convention looks good fun to me, and I’d love to see you there on the 11th. Details are here:    http://laveradio.com/lavecon-2015/ And thanks to the Renegade Legion Recon Team whose first reports are now in. As a result, I’m planning a few small changes, and the inclusion of a few, brief Infopedia sections, […]

A couple of sneak peeks as I ready the eBook editions of the Recon Team draft.      

The Human Legion Recon Team is recruiting now… [Update: the Recon Team is now operational and closed to new members for this book, but if you add your name below, I’ll add you to the list of interested people for the next book. Thanks.] Renegade Legion, the third Human Legion book is nearly ready for beta readers. Because I spent twenty years arranging beta teams for (relatively) dull corporate database software, I’ve decided it would be more fun to call this a Recon Team. What’s it all about? Recon Team volunteers help by scouting ahead for hazards and highlighting dangers in an early draft of the forthcoming book. If you read a passage and it makes you whistle, curse, or […]

I wrote the last scene today in Renegade Legion. Not the one that goes at the end (I wrote that last month) but the last one to be written. Now I’m running through some sections that need readjusting or reconnecting for consistency (Such as the dialogue from a character who died in a battle a hundred pages earlier. Oops! That’s just plain disrespectful). And another full read-through. Then I’ve got to lay it out. So still plenty of work before I’m ready to put it out on beta (though I’m hopeful that could be next week) but today is definitely a milestone. Expect posts aplenty in the coming days on betas, trailers, sales, and maybe a short story from a character we’ve […]